NEW DELHI: India has won many friends by evacuating nearly 1,000 nationals of 41 countries from warring Yemen, with the operation led by an irascible former general coming as a welcome moment of pride for a nation that aspires to emerge as a global player.
MoS for external affairs Gen (retd) V K Singh returned to a hero’s welcome on Friday, having joined several Air India flights into the Yemeni capital Sanaa to evacuate people from the conflict there to Djibouti.
“The bombings are still on,” the former army chief of staff told reporters at Delhi airport. “There was trouble in evacuating them, yet we did our task.”
Along with some 4,600 Indians, Singh’s mission rescued citizens of Britain, France and the United States.
The evacuation from Yemen also provided a rare chance for India and Pakistan to look beyond hostilities, as 11 Indians were evacuated by the Pakistani navy and flown home, winning a vote of thanks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It was a very positive, good, generous gesture,” foreign secretary S Jaishankar told reporters here when asked to comment on the evacuation of Indians by Pakistan and then bringing them here by a special flight.
“Pakistan took great trouble and we need to appreciate that,” he added.
The 11 Indians were evacuated by a Pakistani navy ship from Yemen to Karachi along with 171 Pakistanis. The Indians were then flown here on Wednesday.
